It was a cold and foggy morning on January 19, 2013. The frosted and chilly air gave way for little, save the thirty-four-hundred-ton Sellwood Bridge as it crept over thirty-three feet in fourteen hours in a feat of civil engineering glory. Nudging the old bridge aside makes room for a new bridge to be constructed in its place. The facts speak to urban progress, while the images tell a story of folks from the neighborhood looking for a spectacle, but getting something slightly more subtle. The best part of it all was the helpful feller with a binderful of printouts roaming around the crowd eager to share the historical context of the thing. I never got his name, but he was quite an effective liaison between our modern confusion and the relative certainty of days gone past. He deserved a hearty handshake for his efforts. Read more details over at sellwoodbridge.org. There’s even a timelapse video.

Shout out to this kid peddling his hip-hop among the white-collar shoppers and workers outside Pioneer Place in downtown Portland. If you’ve never seen this sort of thing, I’ll describe the set up. A kid with a CD player and headphones invites you to put on his headphones and listen to his music. If you listen, then he’ll put on the hard sell to get you to buy his CD. It was very common on the streets of Hollywood when I lived there. This is the first time I’ve seen it here in Portland. I gave a listen. Good flow, but I wasn’t down with the lyrics about partying. And that’s too bad, because we talked about personal energies and he told me how his chakras were flowing so excellently. Apparently he’s making it well enough selling his CD on the street. We chatted for five minutes or so, and he was pretty upbeat, optimistic. It was good to see.

Too bad the slip of paper with his name and website ended up going through the wash. I’m so bad with names.

Leica M2
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm
HC-110 Dilution B

I think I’ve finally abandoned Scangear for my normal scanning. This was Vuescan on 16-bit greyscale mode. Obviously the portrait was overbacklit, but the detail’s there.

I’m happy, too.

These are three consecutive frames from my last roll that restored my faith. A new life for you!

Leica M2
Voigtlander Nokton 35mm f/1.4
Arista Premium 400
HC-110

The results of the Sprocket Rocket Filter Ring mod: Here are some shots with a red 52mm filter. The pickup is white and faded green, and the red filter really increased the contrast. A red filter can even double as an ND filter, of course, as I tried at night as the police tried to take me down. (kidding.) The red glow of police lights turned white in the exposure. I did these in stand development, Rodinal diluted 1:100 for an hour. Now, one important note. Even with a 52mm filter, the filter edge sometimes can be just barely seen in shots when the Rocket is set to the nearest focus setting. This is a slightly disappointing discovery, but one I can work around.

The pic of JK at the Instagram Meetup was with no filter, but I just liked it.

Roller derby dream sequence.
Long shutter on film.
Leica M2
Canon Serenar 85mm
Arista Premium 400
Adox Adonal 1:100

Leica M2
Voigtlander 15mm
Arista Premium 400
HC-110 Dilution H

Sarah and I went on a fantastic five-mile hike around Multnomah Falls yesterday. I’m sure feeling it today in the thighs! I was in the mood to try some mad scientist stuff, so I taped a green filter over the Sprocket Rocket. This should have brought a little extra definition to the green vegetation on a grey rainy day when using black and white film — Arista Premium four-hundred, as it happens. One does not change settings on the Rocket, so the way to compensate for the loss of two-plus stops of light through a filter is to push the developing. I decided to go with stand development with Rodinal at a lean one-to-one-hundred dilution. Stand developing means I don’t really care about how far I’m pushing. Sixteen-hundred, thirty-two hundred. It’s all the same to stand. See? Like I said, some mad scientist shit.

Issue: I moved off Flickr and to my own site as a way to encourage myself to do grander projects, things with some scale and scope. But I still have a photostream mentality: One photo here and and one photo there. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s not taking me anywhere.

Except into the forest. To find old Fords.

I have patience. Seeds take time to grow. And, that essay really is coming soon.

I’m in the middle of an epic essay, but a bit blocked. So, here’s a Peeping Pacer in the meantime.

Stewart’s Shops are an upstate New York institution. C-store and ice creamery with a very local flavor, the first Stewarts popped up after the war in Ballston Spa, NY. Wikipedia notes some of the innovations dreamt up by this popular chain:

In 1948 the company introduced the folding paper ice cream carton so customers could bring home fresh ice cream more cheaply. The more notable innovation of the year, however, came from the younger Charles Dake’s wife Phyllis, who suggested allowing people to make their own sundaes from a choice of toppings, a practice which continues today and has been widely imitated. The company’s Philly Vanilla ice cream was named in her honor.

The upstate region is rife with blight and misery, but Stewart’s is a bright spot and a local treasure. The high key-ish photo above is the Stewarts on Main Street on Johnstown, shot on Arista Premium film. With their fierce local spirit, long may Stewart’s Shops prosper. Curious about the eggs at Stewart’s? Luckily for you, Stewart’s is down with the Youtubes!